The Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism .. Conspired Against

The Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism .. Conspired Against

1Kings21:7

‘And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.’

Ahab’s covetous spirit was insufficient of itself to secure Naboth’s vineyard; no amount of huffing and sulking would achieve his ambition either. If Ahab was ever to take control of and to lord over Naboth’s vineyard, then a more sinister approach would be required. The plot would have to be carefully planed, skilfully implemented and subtly executed, if success was to be guaranteed; being wedded to Ahab, Jezebel had the perfect qualifications to construct, implement and execute such a pernicious plan. So it was with Paisleyism as plans were drawn up to capture the Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism.

Jezebel’s plan was to silence the voice of protest; she wanted a flawless transition of power, so that Ahab could become lord over Naboth’s vineyard. The Jezebel plan was drafted on government paper; this was in order to give the impression of authority. Jezebel targeted the ‘elders and the nobles that were dwelling with Naboth’; she wanted to undermine the voice of opposition and where better to start than amongst Naboth’s friends. The centre piece of the conspiracy was the establishment of a national fast day where Naboth would appear to have the seat of honour; then false witness would be arranged against this lonely voice of protest and it would be quickly silenced.

In the case of Jezebel it would have taken some time for such a deep conspiracy to be fully implemented and executed; so it was with Paisleyism. For years, Paisleyism had tried every trick imaginable to secure the Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism; recruitment of the Third Force and the Red Berets failed to win sufficient Protestant support, signing of a covenant ‘to love the things that Christ loves and to hate the things that Christ hates’ failed to achieve the desired aim. Even association with Protestant Paramilitaries and the Loyal Orders was not enough to deliver the Vineyard of Protestantism into the cunning hands of Paisleyism; and so the Jezebel wing of Paisleyism set to work in conspiratorial mode.

Paisleyism entered into negotiations with the elders and nobles of GB and Ireland at St Andrews with a view to gain control of the Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism. A power sharing agreement was reached without the voice of Ulster Protestants; like Naboth, they had been silenced by falsehood. Protestants believed Paisleyism’s opposition to power sharing with unrepentant terrorists was non negotiable; they had been disappointed at the treachery of the Good Friday agreement, and genuinely believed that Paisleyism’s word was its bond. Like Naboth, Ulster Protestants were unaware of the falsehood that was ready and waiting to silence them.

The trap was sprung at the subsequent Assembly Elections; Paisleyism ensured loyalty among its ranks by asking all its MLAs to sign their resignations, which would be held by their party leader; any dissent or objection, would have marked the resignation as being accepted. Paisleyism had silenced the voices of protest from within its own dark ranks, but what of the electorate without? Well, falsehood was to take care of that; Ulster Protestants voted for Paisleyism, not knowing that Paisleyism had already signed up to Power sharing with former terrorist leaders. So the conspiracy to take over of the Vineyard of Ulster Protestantism, had been planed, implemented and executed by Paisleyism; for the first time in many generations, the voice of protest from Ulster Protestants has been wickedly silenced.

Rev Mervyn Cotton (Heb13:6)